Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Modernist]

What a lovely mess of worthless posts. Cheers me right up.

I think it would be valuable for the OP to consider the reality of English-teaching over the long haul and the potential larger implications.

I'll bet when your wife got her teaching cert in TX, even when she decided to major in EE or SE or whatever, that it never occurred to her that she would be unable to find a job doing it. How about all those law students who can't get hired? How about the architects? The science PhDs? The library science people? How many others?

I can sympathize, deeply. I too have a degree in something that is really only done by governments, which are currently revenue-starved and not hiring anyone at all in my field.

You speak of doing ESL for perhaps 30 years. But just take Korea. The huge demand for English teachers here is in some ways a creation of a very specific government policy--soon-to-be-former President Lee Myung-bak's emphasis on it, coupled with probably trillions of won of National money to pay for an army of native speakers in thousands of public schools. But this policy is not unassailable and not, realistically, likely to continue forever.

If you really want to worry, read the book 'Last Lingua Franca.' It's an extremely well-informed look at and analysis of the long-term prospects for English globally. The bottom line is that no lingua franca [what English is today, and why there is such demand for ESL teachers] has lasted forever, and when they start to drop they drop savagely quickly. It's happened to everything from Latin to Arabic to French. It will happen to English too. When it does, almost certainly in less than 30 years, what will you do? If you have staked everything on ESL because 'there's always work teaching ESL?'

Wasn't it not very long ago that anyone with a US teaching cert. could get a job someplace in their state? Don't forget how quickly things can change; in the 21st century there are NO assured jobs or sectors. NONE.

[winterfall]

[isitts]

[Nick Adams]

Re: international schools and/or a 30-year career teaching abroad:

Your strengths are a wife with a teaching certification and your background in IT.

Your weakness is your lack of a teaching license. A masters degree, even one in education or ESL, is not a substitute for teaching certification. Certification is what would most dramatically benefit your and your wife's options if you are serious about making teaching into a lifelong career.

Two immediate options:

1. Your wife could try to get hired at a real international school in one of the big Asian cities, where you could pick up some work in language schools or tutoring. This is delaying the inevitable need for you to get certified, but your wife would pick up valuable experience and you could decide as a couple if this is the life you want.

2. You could start working on teaching certification, most likely from North America, then after a year or two you could recruit as a married, certified teaching couple. That is a strong combo.

Note: it is difficult/impossible to get teaching certification while living and working full-time overseas. It is possible to complete an entire masters degree overseas through online courses or programs that fly their profs to meet with cohorts of students. Having a masters and no certification means you will be unqualified for legit international schools.

There is always a practicum component of 1 or 2 semesters of teaching under supervision. Maybe you can find a program where you can do the coursework during summers or before moving overseas, and get hired as an intern to do the practicum. There are not many schools that will hire interns.

The legit international schools have good packages, but you will work for the benefits - expect much longer hours than ESL jobs. I am in my tenth year teaching/sixth year overseas. I am 35. I attend conferences every year, take classes here and there, got certified in a second subject, did an M.Ed. degree, got certified in a third subject, and am getting ready to do a second masters in a more tech-specific field. Basically, if you want to rise to the top of the international school pile, you are going to have to work for it, as would people in most industries. Once getting to the top of the pile, you are going to have to work to stay there. Sometimes people burn out. It is not a lifestyle for everyone.

The lifetime benefit of a rewarding job, travel, periodic moves from country to country, tax-free or tax-advantaged income, and typically free or heavily subsidized housing adds up after 5/10/20/30 years. There is no pension at the end of your years of service, so you have to be willing to take on the responsibility for planning for your own retirement.

[smeggysmeg]

I was corrected: my wife's teaching certification is probationary and was dependent on her getting hired as a teacher; meaning, she's not truly a licensed teacher until she has successfully taught at the elementary level for at least a year here in Texas - which she can't do because there are few districts willing to hire a non-traditionally certified teacher compared to a recent education grad and few, if any, districts are hiring.

So - she's taken the course and passed the test, but she isn't certified because she hasn't been able to get hired here in Texas.

[smeggysmeg]

[HagwonKanobi77]

This is a good thread, and an idea we should all consider--and I'm sure a lot of us are considering. I know I am. I just recently finished a year and so I am at a similar fork-in-the-road. I am wondering if I should also get a teaching certificate, go another year or so in Korea (that's what I'm leaning towards), or something else. Anyone try Teach for America?

[Bruce W Sims]

[Nick Adams]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Zyzyfer]